Founder of the World Wide Web proffers major predictions for the future of the web on its 35th anniversary

While researching an information management system that would enable his colleagues to share data more efficiently amongst themselves, the London-born Tim Berners-Lee submitted a proposal for an earlier iteration of the World Wide Web. By 1991, the Web was up and running, and in 1993,  the inventor successfully convinced CERN to release the Web protocol and code into the public domain without patents or licensing fees. This was a significant step that hugely contributed to the Web’s subsequent success. While Berners-Lee stated he never anticipated such a level of success, he is well aware of the positive outcomes – the huge growth in e-commerce and virtual connection possibilities – as well as the growing negative outcomes – chiefly the loss of control over personal data and the rise of social media echo chambers –  associated with the Web.

However, he remains optimistic and has supplied 3 key possibilities he foresees regarding the future of the Web.

1. Virtual AI assistant for all: With the rise of GenAI tools, such as ChatGPT, the future is predicted to be dominated by personal AI assistants that would manage all virtual tasks for humans, including e-commerce shopping, payments and bills, among others. Tech companies, such as Akamai which was founded in response to an MIT challenge set by Berners-Lee, anticipate a rise in the use of personal chatbots trusted by consumers for all information tasks without directly using Web services themselves. This is likely to create a future where humans go back to physical experiences and leave the Web to be moderated by their personal AI assistants.

2. Personal data fully controlled by users: Berners-Lee envisages a future where rather than BigTech controlling everyone’s data, users would establish full control over their personal information, through the creation of a data store or pod, a technology that Berners-Lee is actively working on through his startup Inrupt. He foresees a set of ‘trust apps’ that we would use to share information and accomplish important tasks faster, seamlessly moving between different technologies, including VR and mixed reality for a singular experience.

3. Breakup of a BigTech company – With the EU Digital Services Market Act (DMA) coming into force, which would allow the EU to punish BigTech for anti-competitive behaviour through rather significant punishments including breaking up the company, the Web founder states that it is likely that such a scenario may take place in the future. With AI being a significantly lucrative technology and the AI race currently gaining speed among the private sector players, it could result in huge AI monopolies that would need to be carefully handled.

The above predictions highlight the major role AI is poised to play in the next iteration of the Web, fuelled by colossal amounts of data. While these technologies are evolving fast, the governance mechanisms to handle their social and economic fallouts such as data privacy, user safety and anti-competitive behaviour, need to evolve at an equivalent pace as well.